Just got back from a week long vacation with the family. It was way cool. Thought I'd share....
We went to San Diego. My kids' first airline flight (sort of; my son had one as an infant). Tuesday was a travel day. We rented a house thru airbnb, a car thru Hotwire, and booked our flights thru Priceline. Tuesday night we got the house ready for our stay.
Wednesday we went to the world-famous San Diego Zoo. What an incredible place. I am very familiar with the Maryland Zoo, the National Zoo, and even the Chicago Zoo, but this takes the cake. Huge, interesting, and very nice!
Thursday we went to Sea World. We saw the dolphin, whale, and sea lion shows, as well as the "Defying Gravity" show that originated on America's Got Talent.
Friday we stayed with the "sea animal" theme and went to Birch Aquarium. While not as cool as the National Aquarium in Baltimore, it was still very interesting, with a beautiful view of the Pacific and beaches. Since this wasn't a whole-day affair, we headed to Balboa Park, stopping at a restaurant called Great Maple on the way. Excellent food! At Balboa Park, we went to the Model Railroad Museum. O, N, HO, and three-rail trains on exhibit, modeling the California, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona plains and deserts. Way cool!
Saturday we went back to Balboa Park to the Natural History Museum. Lots of interesting scientific stuff there, including fossil and skull collections. After the museum, we rode the carousel and the mini-train.
Sunday we went to church down in Chula Vista and met some very friendly folks. From there, we visited the Veterans' Memorial at Mount Soledad and saw incredible, mountaintop views of San Diego. After that, we went aboard the U.S.S. Midway, which has been turned into a museum. We toured the ship above and below decks, rode the flight simulator, and learned a lot about seafaring life. We topped it off with a fish dinner at Anthony's.
Monday was the highlight for me. We went up the road a pace to Escondido, to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. This is a gigantic zoo that is not a typical zoo. It features animals in their natural habitats, and there are various ways to view them (all for extra $$$), including zip lines, a hot air balloon, trams, motorized trikes, etc. We took the included tram ride, and spent the rest of the day walking around. We ended our trip with the cheetah run, in which a cheetah chases a stuffed animal at 60 - 70 mph while you stand there behind a half-fence and watch! I could have spent days and thousands of dollars there.
Tuesday we flew home, and Wednesday I took another day off to recuperate.
If you have never been to San Diego, I highly recommend it. We could have spent the entire week at Balboa park and not seen everything. It is close enough to drive to Tijuana, if you wish to spend a day in Mexico. And Legoland and Sea World Aquatica (a water park) are also there, although we opted out of those.
We went to San Diego. My kids' first airline flight (sort of; my son had one as an infant). Tuesday was a travel day. We rented a house thru airbnb, a car thru Hotwire, and booked our flights thru Priceline. Tuesday night we got the house ready for our stay.
Wednesday we went to the world-famous San Diego Zoo. What an incredible place. I am very familiar with the Maryland Zoo, the National Zoo, and even the Chicago Zoo, but this takes the cake. Huge, interesting, and very nice!
Thursday we went to Sea World. We saw the dolphin, whale, and sea lion shows, as well as the "Defying Gravity" show that originated on America's Got Talent.
Friday we stayed with the "sea animal" theme and went to Birch Aquarium. While not as cool as the National Aquarium in Baltimore, it was still very interesting, with a beautiful view of the Pacific and beaches. Since this wasn't a whole-day affair, we headed to Balboa Park, stopping at a restaurant called Great Maple on the way. Excellent food! At Balboa Park, we went to the Model Railroad Museum. O, N, HO, and three-rail trains on exhibit, modeling the California, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona plains and deserts. Way cool!
Saturday we went back to Balboa Park to the Natural History Museum. Lots of interesting scientific stuff there, including fossil and skull collections. After the museum, we rode the carousel and the mini-train.
Sunday we went to church down in Chula Vista and met some very friendly folks. From there, we visited the Veterans' Memorial at Mount Soledad and saw incredible, mountaintop views of San Diego. After that, we went aboard the U.S.S. Midway, which has been turned into a museum. We toured the ship above and below decks, rode the flight simulator, and learned a lot about seafaring life. We topped it off with a fish dinner at Anthony's.
Monday was the highlight for me. We went up the road a pace to Escondido, to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. This is a gigantic zoo that is not a typical zoo. It features animals in their natural habitats, and there are various ways to view them (all for extra $$$), including zip lines, a hot air balloon, trams, motorized trikes, etc. We took the included tram ride, and spent the rest of the day walking around. We ended our trip with the cheetah run, in which a cheetah chases a stuffed animal at 60 - 70 mph while you stand there behind a half-fence and watch! I could have spent days and thousands of dollars there.
Tuesday we flew home, and Wednesday I took another day off to recuperate.
If you have never been to San Diego, I highly recommend it. We could have spent the entire week at Balboa park and not seen everything. It is close enough to drive to Tijuana, if you wish to spend a day in Mexico. And Legoland and Sea World Aquatica (a water park) are also there, although we opted out of those.
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